DIVAfest 2010

DIVAFEST 2010
9th Annual DIVAfest April 8 – May 1, 2010

THE WIND AND RAINby Claytie Mason with Rebecca Jackson, Brynna Jourdan, Jenna Bean Veatch, and Mollie Millar
“There were two sisters of County Claire, Oh the wind and rain. One was dark and the other was fair. Oh the dreadful wind and rain…”
Two sisters in a small mill town on the brink of extinction, a mysterious stranger with a fiddle made of bones, a river that runs dangerously high… Based on the ballad “The Wind and Rain,” an age old tale about sisters, love, jealousy, revenge and the consequence of change.

BUDDHIST RUMINATIONS: POETRY AND SPIRIT by Diane di Prima
Beat icon and current San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane di Prima has been a practicing Buddhist since 1962, first in the Zen tradition, and later in the Tibetan Vajrayana system. As a younger woman she also studied Hinduism, and has been a practitioner of Western magick throughout her life. Many of her finest poems reflect these studies and practices. In her 6th annual solo appearance for DIVAfest, she will read poems inspired by these traditions, and talk about the place of spiritual practice in her life as a poet.

GRACE. A reading by Lee Kiszonas of her latest play.
Kiszonas’ take on Grace O’Malley is a swashbuckling tale of the Irish pirate queen who battles through Spanish galleons, political intrigue, and personal betrayal to save her golden boy from the clutches of the indomitable queen of England.

A TAPESTRY OF TRAVEL TALES by Erika Atkinson
A reading from her travel. journals, or as Erika says — “Ladies and Gentlemen, hold on to your armrests and turn on your headlights. Permit me to take you on a few unplanned adventures to places far away and exotic, and on a few unexpected trips to places more familiar. It is my hope these stories will incite your own alliances between savories in the air or sounds in the barrio, from ancient worlds to the more modern.”

LADY OF THE ‘LOIN featuring Shannon Day and the songwriting team Don Seaver and Sean Owens.
A sizzling tribute to San Francisco’s raciest, raunchiest, most unrepentant neighborhood: the Tenderloin. A dozen stories-in-song, about good girls gone wrong, wronged girls getting the goods, and low-lifes living the high life. A dozen stories-in-song including “It’s Always A Dame”, “A Cut Above”, “So Far From Civilized”, “The Strut On The Street”, “Homicide’s A Gift”, “Out Here On The Edge”, “Save Me From Myself”, and “Eat At Joe’s.”

SOPHIE KADOW – DIVAfest Visual Artist
Kadow’s work will appear in the EXIT Cafe throughout DIVAfest.
Sophie Kadow is an artist and writer living in New York. She works with a myriad of mediums, ranging from vibrant watercolors to 99 black ballpoint pens. An observer by nature, she often finds herself in a cafe or in the subway, sketching strangers in their most run-down form. More often than not, the doodles turn into something substantial; as she is most commonly known for her line drawings of shoddy, disreputable people.